Our Patterns of Worship

Our services at St Augustine’s are quite varied. Each Sunday there is a quiet (said) communion service at 8.00am and a Parish Eucharist at 9.30am. Once a month, on the first Sunday of the month, there is an informal All Age service at 11.00am. Most of the services are structured around the provisions set out in the Church of England’s Common Worship. Once a month, on the third Sunday of the month, the 8.00am comunion service follows the Book of Common Prayer. We also have evening services on the second Sunday of most months; these are called Kairos, and are described below.

We have pew Bibles which are Today’s New International Version. Most Sundays our hymns and songs are taken from the Songs of Fellowship hymnbooks, and are a mix of the older and the newer. Our singing is ordinarily accompanied by the church organ, though occasionally one of our West African visitors will teach us a new hymn and accompany us on a drum. Occasionally a small group might sing accompanied by the piano or guitar.

Eucharist

Our most typical kind of service, normally taking place three times a week, is the Eucharist — known variously in different Christian traditions as Holy Communion, the Lord’s Supper or the Mass. This has a tightly defined structure, so each member of the congregation will normally be given a service book upon entry to the church that will help those unfamiliar with the structure of the service to play their part in our worship.

The 9:30 Parish Eucharist has a Children’s Church paralleling it. Primary aged children begin in church and then normally go to the Vicarage with their group leaders for their own Bible teaching. They return just after the offertory hymn. Secondary School aged young people leave for their own group before the Gospel reading and return at the peace. There is also an area at the back of the side aisle with toys, colouring materials, and at least one adult on duty, that serves as a crèche for pre–school children.

On Sundays at the 9:30 service a collection will normally be taken during the third hymn, the “offertory hymn”. Anyone who is willing and able to give money then may do so, but no–one is required or expected to give.

There is no one correct way to receive the bread and the wine. All those who have been baptized and are in good standing with their own churches are welcome to receive. Those who desire only a blessing will bow their heads — they may wish to bring one of our service books to the altar rail to distinguish themselves further from communicants. We have a policy of admitting children who have been baptized and who have received instruction to receive communion prior to confirmation.

All Age Service

The All Age services on the first Sunday of the month have a much more flexible structure. They take more the form of a service of the word, with one or more Bible readings, an address or talk instead of a more formal sermon, prayers and hymns, and generally some other worship activities in which the whole family can join.

Kairos Evening Services

Kairos is our evening service. Its name comes from a Greek word for time, καιρός, that is often used in the New Testament to suggest a right, proper or favourable time, or God’s time rather than mankind’s time. The services have a contemporary flavour, with a small music group and a multi–media dimension. Do come along and take part, we would love to see as many people as possible.

Children in Particular

Everyone is very welcome to attend any service. That said, it is likely that children would get more out of the all–age services, which are geared to allow participation in our worship by even the very young, and out of the Children’s Church, than they would get out of the more formal eucharists at eight o’clock on Sundays and at half past ten on Thursdays. Parents of very young children should not be too concerned about the noise they may make; we are used to vocal children, and we don’t mind them at all. We always try to make parents and children welcome here.